Note: My usual warning…If you are a strong Hillary supporter, and believe her political loss in 2016 was purely the result of misogynist pigs denying her her birthright, please, please, please DON’T read this. You will hate it, guaranteed. However, if you want a little inconvenient truth, buckle up. This one is a bumpy ride, but there is something to learn here…

Remember how all you Hillary supporters dismissed everyone who criticized her during the 2016 election? Remember the way you unfriended people like me on social media and labeled us misogynist pigs who were being too hard on her? Remember insulting Bernie supporters and libeling him at every opportunity? Well, I do, and I have something to say about that and more.

Yesterday, Donna Brazile, who is a really good person, above board, honest, and a loyal Democrat published an excerpt from her new book, Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House. The excerpt described what she discovered when she took over the DNC after Debbie Wasserman Schultz was ousted during the Democratic Convention in the summer of 2016. Her revelations about the state of the DNC is nothing short of shocking, but even worse, virtually all of the fears anti-Hillary folks had about how the nomination process was run were well founded. Hillary and her operatives HAD taken over the DNC and then proceeded to destroy every reform that had been implemented by Howard Dean and President Obama.

After Brazile took over the party, she first discovered that it had been deep in debt since the 2012 election and had been starved for cash since. Worse, in September, she found the smoking gun. She unearthed a document known as the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America. The document, negotiated between Robby Mook, Hillary’s campaign manager and the DNC, handed FULL CONTROL of the DNC over to Hillary’s campaign office in August of 2015. You read that correctly. Hillary took full control of the DNC FIVE MONTHS before the primaries even started. The DNC could do nothing without Hillary’s approval, including fund raising, staff hiring decisions, even press releases.

And file this under It Gets Even Worse; the money laundering charge that was asserted by Politico in May of 2016 was true. We’ll let Brazile describe it herself –

“Individuals who had maxed out their $2,700 contribution limit to the campaign could write an additional check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund—that figure represented $10,000 to each of the 32 states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement—$320,000—and $33,400 to the DNC. The money would be deposited in the states first, and transferred to the DNC shortly after that. Money in the battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled that money directly to the DNC, which quickly transferred the money to Brooklyn.”

Money from the lavish fundraisers Hillary was holding all over the country for the DNC was actually laundered from the states, then to the DNC, and then to her own campaign coffers. The state parties got less than ONE HALF OF ONE PERCENT. So all you suckers donating in Texas to rebuild the party were actually backdoor funding Hillary’s campaign. The party sucked wind. As Brazile describes this shameful scheme, the operation wasn’t illegal, but it was certainly unethical.

So let’s recap. The charge that Hillary controlled the party during the primaries is true. She controlled the DNC from the summer of 2015, controlling the primaries, party strategy, fund raising, management, and all other aspects of the DNC’s operation. Her people ran it, including the moron who ignored the FBI’s warning that the DNC’s email system was compromised. The board of the DNC was sidelined. The primaries WERE RIGGED. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was nothing more than a tool for Hillary’s campaign, since she was installed to get Hillary elected. The entire DNC effort from 2015 on had one goal – getting Hillary elected.

This shameful corruption does more damage than even Brazile described; it not only “compromised the party’s integrity” as she said, this documented and incontrovertible evidence of corruption plays directly into the stereotype of the Clintons running right on the edge of ethics and even legality. While Hillary spoke loudly about campaign finance reform, blah, blah, blah, she was doing exactly, no, precisely the opposite.

You wanna know what really pisses me off? These revelations of Hillary’s behavior adds fuel to the “lock her up” fire. It’s going from a bonfire to a 10,000 acre blaze that’s going to rage for months. Trump is already playing with the matches, tweet raging this morning that the FBI should investigate her criminality. Here we go.

Hey, Hillary folks – hate Trump? Well, goddamit, go buy a mirror. Hang it on the wall, and then look into it for a long time. Thanks. For nothing.

First, I didn’t believe Bernie would win the general, but I voted for him in the Texas primary. What’s more important, and most Clintonistas IGNORE, is that the wall of money Hillary had erected scared off really good candidates like Joe Biden. No one can deny that if Biden had run he would have decisively won.

Second, I’m always amazed at the prevarication and excuses from Hillary supporters. Since when is corruption OK? Trump and other Republicans are excoriated for this kind of conduct. When it’s a Clinton, its like, “What? That’s a problem?” I personally find it shocking the lengths Clintonistas reach defending her Highness, no matter the scale of the offense.

I personally witnessed the lengths that Howard Dean went to in 2006 and 2008 to make it clear that the DNC supported ALL candidates and was diligently neutral in partisan races. He steadfastly defended neutrality and honesty. Hillary poured kerosene all over those principles and struck the match herself. Those who dismiss this kind of conduct are nothing short of radical hypocrites, and are no better than the hypocrites on the other side.

So there.

UPDATE 2: Lets talk about Bernie not being a Democrat.

This is the stupidest argument forwarded by Clintonistas. “Bernie’s not a Democrat!” “He should have run on his own!” “He should have not been allowed to run!” And other BS. OK, let’s settle this – BERNIE RAN UNDER THE RULES OF THE DNC. HE QUALIFIED UNDER THE RULES OF THE DNC. Period, end of story. YOU may not like it, but he ran under the rules and qualified for the primaries. He had EVERY RIGHT to run, even though YOU want to deny him that right. The laws of the United States are stacked against independent runs. It’s virtually impossible for an independent to qualify in all 50 states. The state governments even pay for the major party primaries. An independent run is virtually impossible to pull off. You may hate him, but Bernie ran under the only rules that allowed him to run, AND HE QUALIFIED. Don’t like that? Then get all 50 states to make it easier for independent runs. Until then, get over yourself and stop making stupid, irrelevant arguments.

A lot of us have been engaging in a drinking game since Cheeto Jesus’ inauguration. Here’s the game: Think of the absolute worst person that he could nominate for an administration position, and when he nominates that person, DRINK! Personally, the game has been tough on my liver these last 7 months. Well, we have a new drinking game that we can start right away…

Think of the absolute LAST criminal that any sane president would pardon, and when he pardons that person, DRINK! That’s right, folks – we have a new game. Think of the LAST person on the planet, especially in light of the events of last weekend, that Trump should pardon. The last person that any president, no matter how tone deaf and ignorant, would let off the hook…

That’s right, folks, Donald Trump, Worst. President. Ever., is “seriously considering” pardoning…wait for it…former Arizona sheriff Joseph Arpaio, recently convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge’s order to stop rounding up and persecuting Latinos. Arpaio is probably one of our country’s most famous loud-mouthed bigots, who came to notoriety for violating the civil and human rights of thousands of people, dressing them in pink underwear, housing them in sweltering tents in the desert, feeding them rotten food, and and unjustly imprisoning them in these conditions with almost complete impunity until recently. When the jig was up, Arpaio shot the justice system the finger, continuing his unlawful activities until charge with contempt.

Naturally, Trump simply can’t abide any kind of reasonable verdict for one of his base’s most favorite racists, so he’s announced to Fox Noise that he’s seriously considering pardoning him.

If you’re like me, you’ve run out of words to describe the slow motion train wreck that is today’s White House. Shocked. Stunned. Astonished. Embarrassed. Humiliated. Outraged. Aggrieved. None of those words sufficiently describe the relentless onslaught on our senses these last months as The. Worst. President. In. U.S. History. eviscerates virtually every tradition, custom, and law that governs our executive branch. Common decency suffered a quick death at 12:01 on January 20th. After that, this walking, talking violation of the Constitution has been urinating all over our society while stuffing his pockets full of foreign money. Have I described this administration accurately? I believe I have.

So. Let’s go back to this same point in Barack Obama’s first term. He was also dealing with a HUGE scandal himself. The scandal? He went out for a hamburger with his pal, VP Joe Biden and dared to order his burger with dijon mustard. That’s right, folks, that sissy latte’ sipping secret Muslim from Kenya dared to order a traditional American dish with a French mustard. Outrageous. The noise machine lit up, lead by the knuckle dragger, Sean Hannity. Have a look:

That same noise machine today (what’s left of it) is whistling past the grave yard, defending Trump and his mob buddies for cozying up to despots and hackers. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if characters from The Empire showed up as Trump surrogates on national television.

All of our glorified politicians and Chamber of Commerce representatives continually crow about Texas being a “free market” state with a “light touch” when it comes to regulations. But is that really true? Actually, no. It’s only free market for those who pay for it. To wit:

You can’t buy a Tesla directly from the company in Texas. You have to buy it online and have it delivered from California. Bills to allow direct sales have died 3 times since 2013, killed by big money from the powerful auto dealers lobby to protect their own dealer franchises.

Under the same Byzantine laws promoted by Texas auto dealers, Warren Buffett was prevented from keeping his chain of auto dealers in Texas because his company happens to also own an RV manufacturing company in Indiana. Buffett tried to fix the problem, but Teabaggers shut him down and the bill never made it to the floor. In Texas, manufacturers cannot sell cars. I know, weird, right?

You can’t buy wine online in Texas like you can in most other states. The powerful liquor lobby controls the governor’s mansion and both houses in the legislature, and has had enacted more Byzantine laws that are inconsistently applied. These laws treat beer, distilled spirits, and wine differently, with complicated permitting requirements. A national online distributor, Wines Til Sold Out, recently received a cease and desist letter from the State of Texas and has shut down sales to the state. Texas consumers lose again.

This year, the powerful beer distributor lobby, which has doled out over $11 million to Texas elected officials (Greg Abbott got $1.4 million, and Dan Patrick got $688,000), got a roll back of the beer law passed in 2013 which encouraged small craft brewers to invest in Texas by lifting insanely low limits on how much beer can be made by small brewers and allowing in-brewery sales directly to customers. That law was so successful that small brewers increased by 3 fold since 2011 drawing the ire of the beer distributors who don’t like competition. They hate it so much that they got a new law passed this year that limits the size of brewers who can sell directly in their own taprooms. The limit is a production size of 225,000 barrels in all of their facilities regardless of whether those facilities are actually in Texas. This shuts down craft beer company Oskar Blues of Colorado, who just spent millions opening a new brewery and tap room in Austin, and also affects Deep Ellum Brewing which is near the 225,000 barrel limit and has already announced that, because of this law, it will now seek to invest in other more friendly states. Oh, and BTW, mega brewers like Anheuser Busch, Heineken, and Miller-Coors were all given carve outs to the size requirement. I’m shocked, just shocked, I tell you. Well, not really. Oh, and for reference, Anheuser Busch produces about 125 million barrels a year.

But it gets worse…In this same law, small craft brewers must pay a per barrel fee to local beer distributors for beer they sell in their own facilities and that is never actually touched by the distributor. That’s right, folks, the Great State of Texas is so “free market” that it has made a law that allows huge multi-billion dollar distributing companies to freely extort money from small brewers for the privilege for selling their own beer in their own taprooms. You’re welcome. This bill is on Abbott’s desk, and if he doesn’t veto it, will become law on June 18th. With $1.4 million of beer lobby money in his pocket, what do you predict he’ll do?

By now, most of those paying attention know that Texas is not a “free market” state, not in the slightest. It has been turned into a corrupt banana republic that benefits the wealthy and powerful while trampling on the small businesses all over the state it claims to promote. But the really weird thing? Those same business people and consumers who are hurt by this corruption are the very people who support and vote for those who participate in it on a daily basis.

You can only draw one conclusion from these clear facts – voters in Texas are stupid.

In response to a House Oversight Committee document request, Trump’s lawyers sent a slick pamphlet describing how he’s NOT going to track money he receives from foreign governments, strictly prohibited by the Constitution’s emoluments clause. Much has been written by legal scholars about Trump’s egregious violations of the Constitutional provision, and it’s all been ignored by the GOP and surprisingly, the press. The Brookings Institute has published some of the best analysis of Trump’s real and continuing problem of taking money from foreign governments. It’s an impeachable offense, but no one is even trying, at least yet, to do anything about it. Bloomberg has written about how money is pouring into Trump’s DC hotel which is housed in the Old Post Office building, both from foreign governments and GOP World, which has established the hotel as its new headquarters. Oh, BTW, Trump is also violating federal rules prohibiting leasing to an elected official, but that’s another story the press is ignoring.

Before the inauguration, Trump said that he was putting all of his interests in a trust, which he didn’t, and wouldn’t be involved, which he is. The pamphlet generally outlines how his spider web of hotels, resorts, and golf clubs will attempt to track payments, but basically says that it’s just too difficult, “impractical” I believe it says, to track all the payments.

So there. Emoluments Clause? We don’t need no Emoluments Clause – it’s just too hard to keep up with the graft, so we’ll just not try. Just another day in Trumpland.

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About

Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.

My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.

I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.

A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.

This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.